‘Harry Potter’ finale not the pinnacle of series

Put on your 3-D glasses and grab a box of tissues, because it’s time for the end of an era. Harry Potter is finally over, 14 years after the first book hit shelves. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two”

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

Directed by: David Yates

Film studio: Warner Bros.

Grade: B+

Put on your 3-D glasses and grab a box of tissues, because it’s time for the end of an era. Harry Potter is finally over, 14 years after the first book hit shelves.

But despite the decade-long buildup, the epic climax of a childhood franchise didn’t reach its peak, leaving viewers with a tinge of unsatisfaction.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) have destroyed three of the evil Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) seven horcruxes — items in which Voldemort placed pieces of his soul to keep him immortal. The film follows the trio on their quest not only to destroy the remaining horcruxes, but also to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eater disciples. Along the way, the group must struggle with issues of both sacrifice and morality.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is not the best film of the series: what it does, it does well, but not as well as its predecessors. Its tension was not as realistic or gripping as the first Deathly Hallows, its pacing was too jarring compared to Half Blood Prince and its CGI seemed unnecessary compared to “Prisoner of Azkaban” or “Goblet of Fire.” It can be accepted as a nice, lovely ending to the series, but fell a bit short of the phenomenal ending which fans expected.

The special effects have made leaps and bounds since the first film, adding gorgeous detail to amazing, breathtaking scenes. There are also many beautiful overhead shots that showcase how wonderful the magical world can be, even at its worst.

Two such scenes that come to mind take place when the Death Eaters are heading up a cliff overlooking the area before Hogwarts and when a swooping camera glides past the burning Quidditch field and toward Hogwarts castle.

But the images aren’t always perfect, and the CGI can look odd at times.

At points the computer imagery looks lovely — like in scenes featuring the giants — but others where it looks silly. In a scene during which Harry and Voldemort are tussling in the air, their faces look like rubber. One shot of Voldemort is purely laughable because of the misshapen quality of his computer-generated face.

Characters at numerous points in the film put the audience through gut-wrenching, painful and heartbreaking moments. A montage showing the life of one character is particularly poignant — due in part because of the actor’s skill level — and the anguish is almost palpable.

The movie’s qualities are not all positive, however. As far as lighting, there are points at which the screen is so dark that it’s difficult to see the action without straining. Even the slightest bit more light would have made these scenes tolerable.

As far as the 3-D goes, it added some really impressive details — a floating dementor for example — but did not seem to be used as well as it could have been. Sometimes the feature was employed at strange points, giving scenes an almost hokey feel.

The movie strays quite a bit from the book, which is OK at times but a poor choice at others. The final fight between Harry and Voldemort is changed from the powerful battle which everyone watches to a rather cliched, one-on-one scene. It takes away some of the beauty of the original book fight and, while still engaging, is not as momentous as the one readers likely imagined.

The pacing of the film is a bit strange. It feels as though the plot races by during the first part, but then suddenly slogs more slowly than molasses, eventually picking up to a more normal pace for the rest of the film. In the first half, so many crucial events occur in such rapid succession that it’s difficult to keep up, and the initial speed makes the slow middle particularly noticeable.

While certainly not the best Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” was still a gorgeous, overwhelming and fitting ending to an amazing series.